Washington Wrapup Week Ending February 20, 2015

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2/24/2015 7:04:30 AM
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Washington Wrapup Week Ending February 20, 2015

 

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Washington Weekly Updates

 

February 23, 2015

 

It was a short week here in D.C. with a federal holiday and a citywide shutdown for a day due to snow. It seems silly that a major city would shut down for a less than spectacular amount of snowfall, but D.C. is so inept at snow removal that essentially the master plan for clearing the white stuff is springtime sunshine. That being said it gave me a rare quiet day that I used to do some heavy research into intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

There is a bill in both chambers that opens up a certain spectrum of WLAN (wireless local area networks). This affects motorcycles how, you ask? There is some concern that the spectrum could be used for unlicensed devices. There are several portions of WLAN spectrums that are dedicated to a single purpose, such as Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), or for only indoor use, or in this case, only for ITS. The concern is that the spectrum will be opened up to outside devices that may not play nice with the ITS infrastructure and cause radio interference, which could delay auto braking, for example. I am meeting with the bill's sponsors next week to drill down on this. I'll report more next week. These same bills were introduced last congress and did not get any traction at all.

Friday February 20th, I attended, by invitation, the welcome home ceremony for Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Foxx has been on a multi-state transportation tour snaking along the coast from Florida, with stops in Georgia, both Carolinas, and Virginia. He ended the trip at D.C.'s Union Station, where he spoke to a group of attendees and press about the dire state of our infrastructure and the need for Congress to get its act together and pass the GROW AMERICA act. GROW AMERICA is President Obama's blueprint transportation bill. The draft is widely accepted as DOA by most in Congress.

Congress was in recess this week and is slated to return to business next week.

Jeff   

 

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